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GE to Develop Wind-Powered Water
Purification
 NISKAYUNA,
NY -- GE Global Research, the centralized research
organization of the General Electric Company, today
announced it is partnering with Texas Tech University to
develop affordable water desalination systems to increase
the quantity and quality of clean water available in arid
areas around the United States and globally.
The GE-Texas Tech partnership
will focus on the integration of renewable energy systems,
such as wind turbines, with membrane desalination processes.
The development of the integrated renewable energy-water
system has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of
creating new sources of freshwater from impaired resources,
such as brackish water, by directly addressing the major
component of operating cost of desalination systems -
energy.
The partnership is part of GE's
company-wide ecomagination initiative, in which the company
is working closely with its customer and other key partners
to aggressively drive and bring to market new technologies
that address pressing environmental challenges and growing
water scarcity concerns. Under the initiative, GE has
pledged to more than double its level of investment in the
development of cleaner energy technologies, from $700
million to $1.5 billion over the next five years.
Dr. Minesh Shah, project leader,
GE Global Research said, "Up to fifty percent of the
operating costs of desalination is derived from energy
consumption. With the potential for large variability in
energy costs due to fuel price volatility, desalination
systems can have significant operational costs. The
integration of wind energy provides an opportunity to
mitigate this variability and allow for a lower cost
desalination system."
"Developing cost effective
technologies that address improving water quality and
availability are of critical importance to many water
stressed areas in this region," said Dr. Dean Smith, Vice
President for Research at TTU. "We are pleased to partner
with the GE Global Research Center to work together on this
problem of both regional and world-wide importance."
The focus of the research
partnership will be the integrated control and optimization
of the two systems to improve operations, reduce capital
cost and reduce energy consumption. This would help to
improve the commercialization of a renewable energy-water
system. The program also aims to develop a commercial scale
demonstration within the next several years.
Visit GE Global Research at
http://www.ge.com/research
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Itron Completes Acquisition of
Flow Metrix
 SPOKANE,
WA -- Itron Inc. announced today that it has signed an
agreement to acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of
Flow Metrix, Inc. in a cash-for-stock merger.
(Photo: The MLOG Color Map shows leakage at a glance.)
Flow Metrix develops and
manufactures advanced leak detection systems for underground
pipelines which allow customers to reduce their “unaccounted
for” water and improve efficiency.
The newest product from Flow
Metrix is the MLOG™ leak detection system, a network of
intelligent leak detecting sensors which use acoustics to
monitor the entire water distribution system. A typical Flow
Metrix installation includes a ratio of one MLOG sensor for
approximately every ten water meters and uses Automated
Meter Reading (AMR) systems to transmit leak information
from underground pipes to the utility. MLOG software is used
to analyze the data collected and provide the utility with
intelligent analysis to pinpoint leaks.
“Water conservation and leak
detection are top of mind to many water utilities,” said
Malcolm Unsworth, senior vice president of Itron Hardware
Solutions. “We are excited to combine Flow Metrix’s proven
leak detection solutions with our leading edge water fixed
network to enhance the value of both solutions for our
customers.”
The initial purchase price will
be paid in cash, subject to certain escrow provisions.
Additional payments may be made if certain technological and
integration milestones are achieved within the first 36
months. Additionally, the agreement provides Itron an option
to purchase additional technology targeted at energy
pipeline integrity.
To know more, start here:
http://www.itron.com/
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Sandia : Early Detection of
Harmful Algal Blooms
 LIVERMORE,
CA -- Sandia National Laboratories researchers Todd Lane and
Victoria VanderNoot have been awarded a research grant to
develop a technology that can successfully detect deadly
toxins from harmful algal blooms (HABs). The funding is
provided by the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and
Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), a partnership
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and the University of New Hampshire.
Lane
and VanderNoot, a molecular biologist and an analytical
chemist, respectively, are both in the Biosystems Research
department at Sandia’s Livermore, Calif., site. In
addressing the HAB problem, they will employ laser-induced
fluorescence and other separation methods inherent in
Sandia’s µChemLab™ (“Micro” ChemLab) technology. Along with
a small team of Sandia colleagues and external
collaborators, they have commenced with the research, which
could lead to longer-term funding after the initial “proof
of principle” work has been completed.
HABs:
devastating for coastal ecology and fisheries
Harmful algal blooms are widely acknowledged to be a severe
coastal resource management issue, adversely impacting
virtually every coastal region. Current methods for
detecting the poisonous toxins characteristic of the blooms
are cumbersome, require either expensive reagents or animal
testing, or are unable to quantify toxins – critical
information for managing shellfish beds. The technologies
under development at Sandia would eliminate these problems.
“Today’s standard detection methods, frankly, are too slow
and labor-intensive,” said Lane. “By the time the process is
complete, it’s too late: the shellfish beds are already
toxic.” The ability to quickly sample organisms low on the
food chain, Lane said, can provide an early warning system
to help protect communities from exposure to toxins.
Most
species of algae are not harmful and actually serve as the
energy producers at the depths of the food web. The dense
patches (or “blooms”) that sometimes accumulate near the
surface of the water, however, can produce potent
neurotoxins that are then transferred through the food
chain, accumulating in zooplankton and shellfish, eventually
harming or even killing marine mammals and humans that
consume tainted shellfish.
Sandia
to focus on early-warning detection methods
The
Sandia research will focus on enhancing the early-warning
capability of detection and is expected to lay the
groundwork for the development of a reliable, cost-effective
prototype to simultaneously analyze multiple HAB toxins in
phytoplankton and/or shellfish in the field. Lane and his
colleagues will aim to optimize the micro-separations
process for a sub-set of relevant toxins, and establish the
laboratory-based protocols for sample preparation.
The
long-term goal, should the initial phase of the Sandia
research go as planned, is to develop small, lightweight
devices that could be fielded by oceanographers and marine
biologists as part of their regular monitoring systems.
The
technologies developed under this effort will be equally
well suited to detecting algal toxins in freshwater sources
and complements other ongoing research at Sandia. Sandia’s
Water Initiative (
www.sandia.gov/water ), for example, strives to increase
the safety, security and sustainability of water
infrastructure through the development of advanced
technologies that create new water supplies, decrease demand
through water-use efficiency, and provide decision-informing
tools to the institutions responsible for balancing supply
and demand.
Web
site:
http://www.sandia.gov/
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Scrap
Tire Crumb Rubber to Filter Wastewater
Harrisburg, Pa. -- Every year, the
United State produces millions of scrap tires that clog
landfills and become breeding areas for pests. Finding adequate
uses for castoff tires is a continuing challenge and illegal
dumping has become a serious problem throughout the nation.
Dr. Yuefeng Xie, associate professor
of environmental engineering at Penn State Harrisburg, has
developed a method that uses crumb rubber to filter wastewater,
which can help ease the tire problem and clean up the
environment at the same time.
"My research has found that crumb
rubber, derived from waste tires, can be used as a filter
media," Xie explains. "The crumb rubber could be used for
treating wastewater, ship ballast water, and storm water."
Crumb rubber is produced by chopping
up and grinding up waste tires to a desired size, cleaning the
rubber and removing any metal particles. It is currently being
used in highway pavement, athletic track surfaces, playgrounds,
landfill liners, compost bulking agents, various manufactured
products, energy recovery and even as artificial reefs for
aquatic life.
For traditional wastewater
filtration, gravity downflow granular filters using sand or
anthracite as a medium are commonly used. One major problem with
these filters is that upon backwashing the particles, the larger
ones settle at a greater rate than the smaller.
The Penn State researcher explains
that this causes the top of the filter bed to hold the smallest
medium particles and the bottom to hold the largest with the
small medium particles or top layer of the filter tending to
become clogged quickly.
In his research, he has proved that
crumb rubber is not a rigid material; instead it can be easily
bent or compressed. Through the crumb rubber method, the larger
solids are removed at the top layer of the filter and the
smaller solids at a lower level, greatly minimizing the clogging
problem.
Several studies conducted by Xie show
that the crumb rubber filter is much more cost effective than
conventional sand or anthracite filters. Because of
substantially higher water filtration rates and lighter weight
in comparison to sand or anthracite, crumb rubber filters may
also be used in a mobile treatment unit for disaster relief
operations, he adds.
Because the crumb rubber is
compressible, the porosity of the particles is decreased which
resembling an ideal filter medium configuration. It can then be
used at higher filter rates while performing similarly to other
media now in use. The crumb rubber media provide better effluent
qualities and larger media allow longer filter runs at higher
flow rates.
Also a Professional Engineer, Xie
holds a U.S. patent on the technology. With more than 20 years
of research experience in water and wastewater treatment, he
focuses his work on water disinfection, disinfection byproduct
control, water reuse and acid mine abatement.
Source:
http://www.psu.edu/
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Water and Wastewater Blog
Don
Dunnington, Moderator |
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Minnesota and the TMDL Issue: What are the Options? |
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"Minnesota is
a land blessed with water. However, a recent
lawsuit has placed the issue of the quality of
Minnesota ’s surface waters squarely in the
limelight...." |
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Think Like a Blogger |
| "I think
there is confusion in many minds as to what
distinguishes a blog article from other forms of
communication, especially for those who are
corporate communicators..." |
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The Biolytix System |
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"Septic tanks
have long been a source of trouble for home
owners, industrial sites and municipalities
alike. The most common complaint is well... the
odor." |
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..enter the Water and Wastewater Blog |
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| Help Forum :
Hot Messages from the Help Forum
People post their requests
for help and offer their suggestions to others in our open
forum.
Ms. Kulynycz needs help with SBR:
We have an 11 yr old SBR
designed and programmed with BOD and SS removal optimized
with <1 mg/l in effluent. However, our TN and TP are
extremely high. We pump in port-a-potty waste in to
the holding tank which is dosed into the lift station.
We have seasonal variations
in flow and concentrations and everything seems to be out of
whack (it always has been but no one cared about nutrients
before). Average summer flow is 6000 gpd, Influent TN is 129
mg/l and composed of 12 mg/l of nitrates in influent.
Effluent levels of TN are 48 mg/l of which 47.5 are nitrates
and we need to get it down to at least 8.
Is this totally impossible?
Are there suggested cycles or other processes to try?
Other factors BOD influent 242 mg/l, COD 620 mg/l influent.
Help. Lots of factors. But what are optimal
cycles to optimize nitrate removal? How long does the DO
need to come down and in what cycle?
(Click
here to post a reply)
Thanks,
Erin Kulynycz
National Park Service
esgirl007@yahoo.com
Mr. Nethercott needs help with coliforms in well water:
I live on a rural farm and
have lived there for many years. Last week I took a
microbiological sample for analysis and the results for
total coliforms came back as 2 CFU/100 ml.
What degree of treatment
would you recommend for such case. I have been looking into
a possible UV system or a RO unit. Just wondering your
thoughts.
(Click
here to post a reply)
Thanks,
Jeff Nethercott
American Water
watermain101@yahoo.ca
Help Forum:
Share your
expertise with others in our
Help
Forum. |
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| From the Job
Fair: Wastewater
Manager - Baton Rouge, LA
The Lab Manager reports
directly to the Plant Manager or General Manager and is
responsible for the complex analysis of samples to determine
their chemical and physical properties. The Lab Manager
oversees all lab operations and integration with other parts
of the company/facility. The essential elements of the
position include, but are not limited to;
1. Performs complex analysis
of samples following prescribed procedures with the ability
to solve problems
2. Calibrates and utilizes sophisticated instrumentation,
able to understand all aspects of the instrumentation
3. Maintenance of equipment, suggests solutions to problems
4. Completes all paperwork associated with the analysis in a
neat and timely fashion
5. Ensures that all work meets applicable QA/QC guidelines
6. Responsible for supply management in their area of
responsibility
7. Responsible for problem solving when results fall outside
of mandated specifications
8. Responsible for proper management of waste generated as a
result of analytical procedures
9. Responsible for maintaining a safe working environment
that is in compliance with all applicable OSHA regulations
as well as all applicable company Health & Safety and
Compliance protocols
10. Manages the laboratory staff and operations
11. Trains less senior members of the laboratory
12. Implements and suggests operational improvement
strategies
13. Completes all personnel functions for the laboratory
staff, including but not limited to, hiring, terminating,
performance evaluations, etc.
14. Performs other assignments as assigned by management
Education/Experience:
High School diploma or equivalency
BS in Chemistry or related field (preferred)
5+ years of experience in a laboratory setting
Competencies:
Ability to work in team environment
Solid understanding of math, chemistry and chemical testing
Advanced working knowledge of the laboratory
Proficiency in Windows based applications
Knowledge of operating system
Organization skills
Problem solving skills
Initiative
Understands the labs role in the operation
Leadership skills
Management skills
Knowledge of CHI systems
Physical Requirements:
Always requires color determination
Frequently requires standing, pulling and/or pushing,
carrying, reaching, stooping and crouching, speaking,
listening, tasting or smelling
Occasionally requires sitting, climbing, walking, lifting,
grasping, crawling, near vision acuity
Position Details:
This position is temporary to hire, day hours, Monday
through Friday. Temporary salary is $37,000 to $48,000/yr -
permanent salary will depend on experience.
To Apply:
Please forward your MS Word to:
houston@labsupport
for immediate consideration.
The Job Fair:
A free
service of Water and Wastewater.com. You can post job
opening for managers, engineers, sales, reps or other
talented people you need. ...Or one can post their resume
for companies who are looking to add talented people to
their staff.
Do you have a position
you need to fill? Visit the Job
Fair. |
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| About Us :
Water and Wastewater Newsletter
© 1999-2006 Water and Wastewater.com
Home page: http://www.waterandwastewater.com
Joseph Taylor, Editor
Water and Wastewater Newsletter
3948 South Third Street, No. 121
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
Phone: 904-280-4656
Fax: 904-273-1399
Email: jtaylor@waterandwastewater.com
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Newsletter is a 100% opt-in e-mail list of information for
the water and wastewater treatment professional. Do
you have company news, a new product, new service or other
information you would like to share with our subscribers?
Please submit articles via e-mail, only to: news@waterandwastewater.com |
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|
::
GE to Develop Wind-Powered
Water Purification
::
Itron Completes Acquisition of
Flow Metrix
::
Sandia : Early Detection of
Harmful
Algal Blooms
::
Scrap Tire Crumb Rubber to
Filter Wastewater
:: The News Center : More headlines
:: The Water and Wastewater Blog
:: Help Forum
::
Water and Wastewater Plant
Directory : Featured Plant
:: The Job Fair
:: Top Picks at Amazon.com
:: Ask Tom! Column!
:: 151,000+ visitors in October !
:: Call For Photographs!
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:: Archive Information
:: About Us
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| Hi Everyone,
Wind, water, crumb rubber and
algal blooms are all in the news this week, read on!
With over 10,000+ subscribers,
our goal is to provide information
to improve your business by using the resources available on the
Internet.
Thanks,
Joe Taylor, Editor
jtaylor@waterandwastewater.com
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| This
months Ask Tom! article |
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Concentrating RO Reject Streams with VSEP
Guest article by Dr. Brad Culkin, New Logic Research,
Inc.
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Do you have an area of expertise in water and wastewater
treatment, have you solved a difficult problem? Share your
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Featured
Case History |
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Award Winning Separation System Protects MBR
Management of a 1.2 MGD
wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) here reports
successful installation of a solids separation and
removal system which protect membranes in its new,
state-of-the-art membrane bioreactor (MBR) addition.
Meanwhile, immediate maintenance benefits have been
gained through elimination of aerator plugging in
its three lagoons...(more) |
More case histories...
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| Call For
Photographs
This weeks photo
is an Aquastore elevated water storage tank in Malaysia.
Aquastore tanks can be designed to meet AWWA-D103 standards
and glass coating is ANSI/NSF 61 certified for potable water
storage.
Photo courtesy
Tom Renich of
Aquastore
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inclusion on our home page, free of charge. Send your
photograph and description to: news@waterandwastewater.com
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| Dr. Michael
Richard, Microbiologist
 Michael
is a wastewater treatment microbiologist and he provides
microbiological analysis and filament identification for
bulking, foaming and other treatment problems for activated
sludge systems, lagoons and filters. He is the co-author of
the definitive manual on activated sludge microbiology and
has received numerous awards.
Click here
to visit his web site.
Michael has become a member
of the
Help Forum this Fall.
Click here to read his profile. |
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Water and Wastewater Newsletter was sent to 10,661 water and wastewater treatment professionals at the time of this
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